Introduction to the Mathematics of Climate at UMN - Lecture 6

Category

Published on

11 May 2015

Abstract

This is lecture 6 in the series "Introduction to the Mathematics of Climate" offered at the University of Minnesota in 2014 with the support of MCRN and The Institute for Mathematics and its Applications.

It continues with lecture 5's topics of glacial cycles, Milankovitch cycles, obliquity, precession, and eccentricity. We learn the history of Milankovitch theory, culminating in the 1976 Science publication by Hays et al., and see architectural connections in the Church of Saint Sulpice, Paris. The lecture concludes with spectral analysis of climate data and matching earth's cycles to Milankovitch cycles, and presents persistent mysteries, such as the "100,000 year problem" and "400,000 year problem".